PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a super heavyweight MMA rules bout between James Burke (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Aloysius Martin Thesz (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Over to our ring announcer for the fighter introductions!

Burke
vs
Martin Thesz

178 cm
23
183 lbs
3 - 0 - 0

188 cm
23
225 lbs
6 - 2 - 0

Abu Dhabi Champ
Excellent boxer
Granite chin

Olympic wrestler
Excellent MT
Good gas tank

Alpha-Male Nutritional Supplements (q160)

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the super heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 3 - 0 - 0, fighting out of London, James Burke!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 6 - 2 - 0, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Aloysius Martin Thesz!
The judges for this bout are James Atkins, Steven Brown and Paul Tew.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
Thesz fakes low and throws an overhand right that catches Burke on the side of the head.

Burke gets the takedown into side control.
The referee looks like he's ready to step in and stand the fighters back up.

Burke tries for a kimura but Thesz is defending well.
Burke creates some space and throws a big elbow, but Thesz sees it coming and moves his head just enough to avoid the strike.
Thesz can't do much from the bottom here.
Thesz is looking to reverse the position.
Thesz gets back to half guard.
Burke wants to control but Thesz is keeping him busy.
Thesz trying to hold on to Burke's head to control him but Burke postures up.

Burke wants to work for an arm triangle but Thesz is really keeping half guard well and defending the submission attempt.

Burke is trying to work for a kimura but Thesz is defending well.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Thesz is trying to get back to full guard.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Burke looking to pass the half guard. Not this time.

Burke is looking for a kimura but he's never going to get it from there.
Thesz is trying to get back to full guard.
Thesz trying to control but Burke postures up.

Burke is looking for a kimura here.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Burke trying to mount his opponent but Thesz defends it.
Thesz gets back to full guard.
Thesz trying to keep a closed guard but Burke is proving a slippery customer.
Thesz is pulling down on Burke's head. It's preventing any offense from Burke, at least for the moment.
Thesz keeping full guard, as Burke tries to pass.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Burke throws a big elbow that misses.
Burke looking to sit in guard and control but Thesz gets the butterfly guard and sweeps. He's now in the guard on the top.
Thesz stands up and looks to throw the legs aside to pass to side control. Burke swivels though and keeps the full guard.
Burke manages to land a sweep and now he's in mount on top!
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Thesz is squirming around, avoiding Burke's attempts to control the action.
Thesz is looking to get to half guard.
Burke punching from mount but Thesz doing a good job of avoiding damage.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Burke throwing shots from mount but they're not landing.
Burke prevents Thesz from getting the reversal.
Burke fails to move to back control.
Burke scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Thesz?
Thesz is controlling an arm, preventing Burke from taking his back. Although keeping him in mount is no better to be honest.
Burke throwing sloppy strikes, which aren't doing any damage.
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Thesz is writhing around trying to get back to his feet.
As the round comes to an end the crowd are showing their appreciation for a great round of action.
Thesz can't escape the position.
Poor strikes thrown by Burke there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
Poor strikes thrown by Burke there. More accuracy and less frantic strikes would help!
Thesz is wriggling around trying to escape.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

James Burke dominated that round.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action.

Thesz misses with a body shot.
Burke checks a low kick from Thesz.
Burke sees a low kick coming and goes to check it, but it's actually a body kick and it thuds into his unprotected ribs.
Burke scores with a sloppy punch to the body. Not much technique there but it did the business.
Burke misses with a half-hearted attempt at a head kick.
Burke throws out a token jab with nothing on it.
Thesz takes a shot right to the bread basket.
Thesz misses with a straight left.
Thesz steps to the side to avoid the strikes from Burke.
Burke smiles there as he lands a nice right hand right on the button.
Burke misses with an uppercut

and Thesz counters with a takedown into side control.
The crowd are loving this. Great action here.
Burke gets back to half guard.
Thesz is breathing heavily.
Thesz winds up and cracks Burke with a swinging punch to the side of the head.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Thesz lands strikes from half guard.
Thesz tries to pass to full mount but Burke defends it.
Burke keeping his head moving to avoid the ground and pound.
Burke regains full guard. Nicely done.
Burke has his hands on Thesz's head, controlling the position.
Burke trying to control the position.

Thesz content to sit in guard, stalling... Great. Oh but he could get punished here because Burke has locked up a guillotine! Burke's face is contorted as he sqeezes tight on the submission attempt - will he finish? Thesz is holding on here and Burke must be using up a lot of energy. Thesz has gone limp! He's out! He's out cold! Burke gets to his feet, tossing aside his stricken foe. Arms raised, he milks the applause from the crowd. Great submission!

Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:56 of round 2, we have a winner by way of Submission (Guillotine). James Burke!
James Burke decided to thank the fans in attendance for making a great atmosphere. It seemed to go down pretty well.